“Hurry, please,” she beseeched him, her sobs audible over the phone.
“I will, munchkin. I’ll be there soon, don’t you worry. I love you, kiddo. Deep breath in now. Let me talk to Marilee.” He grabbed Nia’s hand and tugged her along the path as he assured the sitter he was on his way home.
“I’m sorry this turned into such a dud of a date,” he said to Nia as they raced from the waterfront. “When Hailey gets like this it’s all hands on deck to soothe her.”
“It’s okay, really. Hailey needs you and she is your priority.” Nia was nearly running to keep pace with him. “Thomas, you don’t have to take me home. I can get a cab.”
They’d reached the street where he’d parked the car. All the ambulances had cleared away, and other than a dark red stain on the pavement, no evidence remained of the accident. Thomas’s heart sank further into his stomach. There’d been so much madness in the world today.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Go! Hailey needs you.” She cupped her hand to his cheek.
Comfortable calm descended with her touch. It was as if he heard her urging him to get a grip for Hailey’s sake. Her fingers settled the nervous energy jangling through him.
He pressed his hand over hers. “I really am sorry to end our date this way. I want to call you again, Nia.”
“You’d better.” Her smile was a thing of beauty in his frantic world. “Will you let me know how she’s doing? If I can help in any way, you know I will.”
Wrapping her in a tight embrace, he eased out a breath that ruffled her hair. How did she instill such serenity with just a touch? “It might be late before I get her settled.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll take the call,” she assured him.
Stretching up on her toes, she pressed a tender kiss to his mouth. The soft, swift brush of her lips blew away the last of his jittery, nervous feelings. He knew he wouldn’t get to Hailey’s side bursting with frustration and anxiety. Thanks to Nia’s tranquil magic, he’d be able to deal with Hailey’s fright without his own interfering.
He’d do anything he could to keep this woman close by his side.
Chapter 10
As soon as the much calmer Thomas sped away to be with his niece, Nia dialed Polly’s number.
Her sister answered on the third ring. “You’ve seen the news reports?”
“I wish I hadn’t. Things are deteriorating more rapidly than I expected.” Nia located a vacant bench on the square and moved toward it. “Have you heard about what happened at The Rowan tonight?”
“Yeah. Some crazy guy ran his truck into a bunch of pedestrians. Was that part of the challenge?”
“Probably. It happened right in front of me.” Nia repressed a shudder as she sat on the edge of the park bench. Pulling the feathers she’d gathered from her back pocket, she studied them. “Mayhem was there as well. Damn bird is starting to molt. Clio noticed it as well, once she was into her challenge. Like the birds are shedding their avian trappings to become human again.”
“We’ll stop them.”
Nia wished she felt as much confidence as she heard in Polly’s voice. “I hope. I do know Thomas is definitely the man I’m supposed to face this challenge with. But his distrust of everything is insurmountable.”
“Listen up, sister. Don’t get defeated before you’ve barely begun.”
“I won’t. But how am I supposed to help him when I don’t know where to start? I’m good. I embody the good in mankind, but I can’t get him to see past whatever hurt scarred him and his niece. And the current state of events isn’t helping.”
“It will come to you, Nia. It will come.”
After promising to meet Polly for coffee at the Daily Grind the next morning, they hung up. As she stowed the phone in her purse, squawking erupted over her head. Lifting her gaze, she located the source. The magpie cocked her head to the side and cackled. The sound was suspiciously close to laughter.
With a flutter of wings, and a rain of feathers, the bird zoomed from the branch, and flew across the square to light on a statue of Aphrodite that stood in the center of the magnificent fountain. Jumping from the head of the statue, she landed on the shoulder of the man sitting on the railing. Pierus!
If he was appearing in public this way, he was riding a wave of confidence. He dressed to blend in…a navy sweater vest atop a white T-shirt, and skinny-cut, rust-colored trousers. A fedora sat at a rakish angle on his salt-and-pepper curls. A Greek god dressed like a hipster. What a douche.
His dark brown eyes were piercing as he studied her. Casually, he stood then saluted her. Nia wanted to salute him back, but she only had one finger to give to the effort. A satisfied grin stretched the man’s craggy face as he turned. Moving through the gathered crowd, his laughter rang inside her head, right along Mayhem’s insane cackling. Fright rose up her spine as she spied the black and white splotch the bird created on the sky.
As Pierus passed two men, a fistfight erupted. Next, he sauntered by two women who began arguing loudly and shoving each other. Mayhem landed on his shoulder again and Pierus’s evil laugh echoed aloud this time. The disgusting pair moved past an outdoor café. A waiter dumped a pitcher of water over a patron.
Nia took a deep breath and drew on the spot in her center where her inspiration came from. The only hope for stopping the havoc Pierus and Mayhem left in their wake was to soothe the people in the square with a broadcast nudge. Her midsection heated as she summoned the energy necessary to calm the distress. Scrunching up her shoulders, she blew out a long breath, aiming it at the two fighting dudes. They immediately stopped throwing punches. But the others didn’t stop. Something blocked her widespread nudge from being effective. Her head pounded and her heart jackhammered against her ribs with the effort she put into the nudge.
Pierus had found some way to cheat the system, like a dishonest accountant cooking the books.
Nia scurried toward the bickering women, waving her hand in front of them as she approached. Their expressions blanked, then filled with contrition. They immediately apologized and hugged it out. Nia continued after Pierus, making her way toward the restaurant patio. She squinted at the angry waiter and the dripping customer, jabbing them with an instruction to knock it off and make up. The waiter’s look of horror told her she’d been successful, but the disgusted patron demanded to see the manager.
Nia opted to ignore the man’s continued outburst, knowing some people were just jackholes, completely lacking in proper manners. That kind of person was beyond her ability to inspire to niceness.
She lost sight of Pierus in the crowd, but thankfully, no more violence occurred. He’d made his point. The bastard and his bitchy daughter had volleyed the first shot. But Nia swore she’d get the last one. The challenge was on.
Hailey hadn’t calmed down one iota by the time Thomas arrived home. To make matters worse, Marilee had joined the weeping frenzy. The sight of the kind-hearted woman’s red-rimmed eyes and tear stained face pained Thomas. But not nearly as much as the shadow of despair he recognized on his niece’s face. It took a huge effort to contain the desire to join them. Crying never brought back the dead.
“I’m so sorry, Thomas. I wouldn’t have interrupted your date for anything.” Marilee squeezed her hands together, holding them against her ample bosom. She swiped under her eyes, disturbing the wrinkles there. “I just didn’t think.”
Hailey had launched herself into his arms the instant he walked through the door, and clung like a barnacle to his neck as he attempted to ease Marilee’s guilt. “Please don’t worry about it. It was bound to happen sometime. I’m only sorry it happened on your watch, and not mine.”
Marilee laid a hand on Hailey’s head as she prepared to leave. “I pray she’ll get past this grief soon. Poor little—”
Hailey sobbed louder, drowning out the rest of the words. Her small body trembled as he held her tight against his chest. He eased his hand up and down her spine. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Marile
e.” He stood in the open doorway, watching Marilee hurry across the street. As soon as she shut the door behind her, Thomas hustled through his house. The screen door smacked the wall behind it as he burst into the back yard.
Moving to the center of the lawn, he clutched Hailey to his chest as he plopped down on the grass. She wrapped her thin legs around his waist and held on, pouring out her grief and tears. He rocked back and forth, and softly sang her favorite nursery rhyme into her ear. After several minutes of repeating the refrain, Hailey finally calmed enough to release her strangle hold on his neck.
They both drew a deep breath.
“Better now?” he asked. His cheek and the neck of his shirt were damp.
Hailey hiccupped and nodded, her soft blond curls catching in the late evening stubble on his jaw.
“Okay if I put you down now?”
Her arms relaxed even further.
He patted her back. “We’ll just lay out here in the yard for a while and talk to your mom and dad.”
She nodded again and crawled off his lap. Rolling to her back, she rubbed her eyes with her fists. She drew a shuddering breath as Thomas reclined next to her, and stretched out.
Above them, the new moon edged toward a half moon, and stars blinked, as if delivering a message meant just for them. The vastness of the night sky had always been calming. For both of them. Hailey put her hand in his, wrapping all of her fingers around his index finger.
“You want to start or should I?” he asked, turning his face toward her.
They’d developed a mechanism where they took turns talking to Doug and Cindy, telling them what was happening, what scared them, what they’d learned that day. Thomas took as much comfort from it as Hailey. Right now, though, he’d pay money for the instant calm Nia dispensed with just a light touch of her hand.
“I’ll go.” Hailey looked at him for a long instant, and then turned to look to the heavens. “Tonight I saw a lot of things on the television that upset me. There was a bombing like,” her voice hitched, she squeezed his finger harder, but she forged on, “like the one you died in. It was scary. Why are people so hateful and dangerous?”
His gut churned as his niece asked the same question that had plagued him recently. He’d hate if his distrust in man’s innate goodness had worn off on this little girl. Hiding his disillusionment from her should have been at the top of his list.
Jamming his other arm under his head he watched Hailey’s profile, waiting to see if she’d continue.
Tears twinkled in the corner of her eye, but she rubbed them away with a sigh. “I tried to remember all the good things, like Uncle Thomas taught me. Like how much I like puppies, and ice cream. I didn’t do a very good job.”
“You did fine, munchkin.” Thomas tucked her small body against his, slipping his arm under her until her head rested on his shoulder. Her breathing had slowed as calm blanketed both of them.
“Your turn.” Hailey poked his belly.
He considered what he wanted to say to his brother and sister-in-law. He certainly couldn’t voice his experience with the crazy accident he’d witnessed. Instead, he opted to share some about his time with Nia. “I had a date with the most amazing woman tonight.”
“With Ms. Nia?”
He skimmed over the gory details and went for a redacted version of the truth. “Yep. We took a walk on the waterfront and talked a bunch.”
“Did you kiss her?”
“Hey, I’m talking to your mom and dad. You should stop interrupting.”
Hailey giggled. “Yeah, but did you?”
He’d lost himself in Nia’s arms, in her kiss, in her delicious response to him. “Maybe.”
“Will she be your wife? She could help me take care of you.”
“Whoa there, Nellie. I said maybe.”
“I’m Hailey, not Nellie.” She giggled again. If he could keep the conversation light hearted, he might get some sleep tonight. Hailey’s elbow dug into his ribs as she rose to look at him. “I wouldn’t mind if she came to live with us.”
“We barely know her.”
“But we like her.” Hailey crossed her legs tailor-style, resting her hands on her knees.
“What if she is secretly an alien, or some supernatural being? What if she can make us do things with her mind?” Like soothe his agitated state, or arouse him to painful hardness? He pushed the memory away. He sat up. “Like dance the funky chicken, or tell horrible jokes that make everyone groan.”
“Her eyes are too pretty to make you do something silly like that.”
The only thing Thomas knew for sure was if Nia had powers like that, and she directed him to take off all her clothes with his teeth, he’d do it in a heartbeat. He gave himself a mental shake. Swiveling until he faced Hailey, he tucked his feet up under his thighs, mimicking Hailey’s posture. “She does have pretty eyes. And she is really nice. Nia wanted to make sure you are okay. We were both really worried about you.”
“Can we call her?” Hailey’s eyes were hopeful. “We should let her know I’m all better now.”
“Are you?”
Hailey chewed her lower lip and concentrated on his chest before answering. “I’m still a little scared. But I don’t think I’ll have a nightmare. Let’s call Ms. Nia.”
“You want to?” he asked.
“We should make sure she made it home okay, just like we do with Mrs. Marilee.”
“Good point.” And a great excuse, Thomas thought, as he dug the phone out of his pocket. His niece’s smile was only slightly haunted now. The girl plucked blades of grass as they waited for the call to connect.
“Hello?” Nia’s voice came clearly from the speaker.
“Hi. It’s Thomas and Hailey. I was just telling Hailey about our walk on the riverfront.” Hopefully, Nia would get the message that he hadn’t shared the details of the accident they’d witnessed.
“Hi, Ms. Nia.” Hailey stopped pulling the grass and stared at the phone he held between them.
“How are you feeling, Hailey?” Concern, shaded by compassion was clear in Nia’s tone.
“I’m better. But I’m sorry I made Uncle Thomas come home from your date early.”
“I don’t mind, Hailey. I’m glad you’re okay. I have to say I don’t like the news either.”
Thomas held his breath, his shoulders drawn up. If she were going to mention the hit and run, she’d do it now.
Thankfully, Hailey didn’t give her a chance. The little imp gave him a triumphant smile and rushed on. “Ms. Nia, would you like to come to our house tomorrow for breakfast? Uncle Thomas makes really good French toast. I mean really, really good.”
Her laugh was low and musical. “That’s generous of you to offer. But—”
“Please say yes. Please.” Hailey bent at the waist, extending her hand toward the phone, as if Nia could see her begging. “Uncle Thomas, tell her to come.”
“Hang on, Nia,” he instructed. He pinned Hailey with a hard stare. “How about you go get ready for bed and let me talk to Ms. Nia alone for a second.”
Hailey’s smile brightened the dim shadows of the back yard. “Okay! I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Ms. Nia.” She blew the phone a kiss then popped up. Thomas rocked back on his tailbone and drew up his knees as she skipped across the lawn, and then hopped up the steps to the house. Once she was safely inside, he leaned his elbow on his knee and lowered his head into his free hand.
He groaned. “I’m so sorry about that.”
Nia’s laugh jingled from the phone. “I’m not.”
Taking the phone off speaker, he pressed it to his ear. “You’re not?”
“Not in the least. It was a charming invitation.”
“Would you like to have breakfast with us?” Hope floated like a helium balloon.
“I believe I would. What time would you like me to come over for this stupendous French toast?”
“In an hour?”
An instant of silence happened at the other end of the phone. Followed by
a short squeaky gasp. “An hour? You mean you’d like me to have breakfast with you in an hour, or sleep over and eat with you in the morning?”
He’d take whatever he could get, but his dick was certainly hoping for the latter. “Is the sleep-over option anything worth considering?”
“Definitely.” Her voice was a seductive purr. “But what about Hailey?”
“If we’re really quiet, she’ll never have to know. She’s already expecting to see you in the morning.”
“Thomas,” she began, but paused. He could almost hear her voice in his mind, telling him to be very certain this is what he wanted.
“Listen, I know we only just met, but we witnessed some extreme shit tonight in front of The Rowan Tree. And your kiss…Lord, Nia. It spoke to me that we could be good together.” Steady breathing was her only response. He rushed on. “I really want you here. We don’t even have to…you know. We could just cuddle. Please say you’ll come now and stay the night.”
“If I come, we both know we won’t be only cuddling.” The promise in her voice stroked his libido and every fiber of his being stood at attention waiting for her next words. The breath she drew was audible over the phone. “I should probably wait until Hailey is asleep. When will that happen?”
Victory! He struggled to tame the erection pressing into his zipper and to keep jubilation from his voice. “Once I get her settled, she’ll fall asleep fairly quickly. Give us ninety minutes just to be sure.” He rattled off his address. “I’ll leave the front door unlocked.”
Chapter 11
Nia parked her dark blue Saturn Sky at the curb in front of Thomas’s house. Her sisters had laughed at her for buying a car named after the planet. But it was an appropriate car for the Muse of Astronomy. Besides, she loved the sleek lines and powerful engine.
Mayhem: Goddesses Of Delphi Page 8
